Author and playwright Jennifer Johnston dies aged 95

Irish writer Jennifer Johnston has died at the age of 95.

The award-winning playwright and author passed away at a nursing home in Dún Laoghaire and was surrounded by her family, according to her son.

Born into a Protestant family in Dublin in 1930, Johnston moved to Derry in the '70s. Her work is often celebrated for its exploration of the relationships between Catholics and Protestants, as well as British an

The Captains and the Kings, Johnson's first novel, was published in 1972. Two years later she published what is considered her most well known novel, How Many Miles to Babylon.

The daughter of playwright Denis Johnston and actor/producer Shelah Richards, the Aosdána member was also a celebrated playwright, winning a Giles Cooper Award for her radio play O Ananias, Azarias and Misael.

She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Book Awards in 2012, and was nominated in 2014 for to be the first Irish Laureate for Fiction. Johnston also received an honorary degree from Trinity in 2001, after leaving the university in 1951 without completing her degree in English and French.

Johnston had been suffering from dementia for a few years prior to her passing.

“I was saddened to learn of the passing of Jennifer Johnston, one of Ireland’s most celebrated authors," said Arts Minister Patrick O'Donovan. "From the very beginning of her literary career, when The Captains and the Kings was awarded the Author’s Club First Novel Award in 1972, she has been rightly acclaimed among the best novelists in the world.

“Many Irish people of my generation will remember How Many Miles to Babylon from our schooldays, and its examination of how war breaks apart the class structure and strengthens interpersonal bonds."